1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to conveyor systems, and more particularly, to a workpiece carrier assembly for carrying a workpiece on a conveyor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In production facilities, many production lines require identical operations to be performed upon large numbers of identical items. In such situations, use is quite often made of conveyor systems in which individual workpieces are conveyed from an entry location to a work location to a discharge location.
For example, when large numbers of containers must be printed with information thereupon, use of such a conveyor system is most advantageous. By delivering to the conveyor system a plurality of unmarked containers, and by providing a means for positioning each of the plurality of unmarked containers such that each of the containers is delivered to the printing station at a desired orientation relative thereto, the plurality of unmarked containers may be printed with the desired information thereupon in an automated manner.
An automated conveyor system, however, requires a significant capital investment. To justify the cost of such an automated system, use of the system must be more than just occasional. For instance, the costs of such a system may not be justified for automating a work step for a single production line if the production line is only intermittently used, but if the automated system may be adapted for use in the production of more than one product, the additional costs of an automated system may be justified.
For the example of printing information on containers, if an automated conveyor system may be adapted for use thereof for production runs of different sized containers, the cost of an automated system which may otherwise not be justified, may be justifiable. Further, an existing automated conveyor system, if adapted to be capable of being used in production runs of different sized workpieces, would have a greatly improved efficiency.
However, in order to maximize efficiency, the changes which must be made to the conveyor system to allow positioning thereon of differently sized workpieces must be made quickly in order to prevent downtime of the automated system. Existing conveyor systems, however, either preclude the possibility of adapting an automated conveyor system for the positioning thereon of differently sized workpieces, or, allow changes to be made only after extensive downtime.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages associated with the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which allows a plurality of workpieces to be carried on a conveyor system.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a workpiece carrier assembly which is adaptable to allow carrying thereon of workpieces of various configurations.